2022 American Peony Society Convention Exhibition Flower Show Court of Honor

2022 American Peony Society Convention Exhibition Flower Show
Court of Honor
The American Peony Society Convention Exhibition Court of Honor was a bit smaller this year, perhaps due to the smaller size of the show overall. Being a smaller show, it fit the venue (the Univeristy of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Garden Auditorium) well and was a good step after a 2 year hiatus due to public health concerns. Peony 'Pastelegance' was the Best in Show flower this year, a repeat on the Best in Show list after first winning Best in Show in 2016. This is a happy coincidence, as Peony 'Pastelegance' is also the APS Gold Medal winner for 2022 as well!


2022 American Peony Society Grand Champion
Peony 'Pastelegance'

Congratulations to all of the exibitors on the APS Court of Honor!

2022 Novice Best Specimen Peony 'Waucedah Princess'

2022 APS Reserve Champion Intersectional Peony 'Sonoma Halo'

Best Blush Lactiflora Peony 'Mrs. J. H. Neely'	Best White Wood Peony Peony 'Koshina-yuki'
Best Species Peony 'Anemonefolia Rosea'	Best Yellow Blend Woody Peony Peony 'Jack's Point'
Best Maroon Woody Peony Peony 'Maria Teresa'	Best White Lactiflora Peony 'Henry Sass'
Best Pink Woody Peony Peony 'Elemental'	Best Pink Lactiflora Peony 'Monsieur Jules Elie'
Best Red Hybrid Peony 'Commando'	Best Pink Hybrid Peony 'Nosegay'

2022 American Peony Society Convention Flow Show Prep

The 2022 American Peony Society Convention isn't possible without the help of so many entrants and volunteers. Before the show opens to the public, APS members are busy as bees, hard at work creating the beautiful flow show the public sees. Flowers are selected for showing, stems trimmed, put into exhibition bottles with water, groomed for the show, tagged with variety and entrant, and then categorized into their show categories for judging.


American Peony Society Convention Prep
This year the APS Exhibition Committee made a change to have all entries submitted by Friday afternoon at 4pm. That way the judges could judge the flower show on Friday evening and have the show ready for the public first thing Saturday morning. Previously flowers were due by Saturday morning, while the judges tried to judge quickly late Saturday morning, often times delaying the opening of the show. I thought this change was wonderful for the show, although I did miss the time on Friday for group APS activities.


APS Novice Design Entries
Often times after entrants have selected the flowers they do want to show, they have leftover flowers that are not deemed to be "show quality". Usually those stems are made available for flower arranging. While a single stem may not be the perfect shape/quality for a ribbon on the exhibition floor, it can still be a valuable addition for a floral arrangement entry. I have entered the floral design categories a couple of times before. This year I had my Mom with me, and I got her to create a few designs as well. I entered four designs, and she entered three. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!!

2022 American Peony Society Convention

It was as lovely to see the people as it was the flowers at the 2022 American Peony Society convention this year. I will say that David Michener's dream finally came true, culminating in the 100th Anniversary celebration of the historic peony garden collection growing at the University of Michigan's Nichols Arboretum, comingling with the American Peony Society's annual convention. After not having a convention for 2 years, it was nice to be back in person.


2022 American Peony Society Convention
University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Garden
The convention started in the usual way with the welcome picnic, and of course the stalwart and ever-present peony show was held. The rest was a little different than usual. We joined a ticketed private garden tour with other members of the public. The University of Michigan's Nichols Arboretum and Matthaei Botanical Garden were available to tour at your leisure. All of these places were nice to tour, but it did make it a little hard to chat with other APS members during the tours/outings. Luckily I was able to tag along with a few other APS members for the garden tour, which definitely made the day much more enjoyable. Hopefully the APS will bring back the bus tours next year, as they really do make it so much easier to chat with old and new APS members.

All in all, I am so very grateful to have been able to attend the convention (with my Mom as well)! I just hope that all is calm and the convention is able to be held again next year!

2022 Happy Mother's Day with Peonies!!

Southern Peony Mother's Day Bouquet
Mother's Day! What better day to celebrate our Moms (and those of us that are Moms) than with a vase full of beautiful peonies? I can't imagine a better gift!! This year I have actually been cutting more peonies than I usually do. Most of the time, I want to keep them in my garden so I have something beautiful to look at when I walk around outside.


Southern Peony Mother's Day Bouquet
Peony 'Paul M. Wild' (top)
Peony 'Vivid Rose' (left)     Peony 'Douglas Brand' (right)
Peony 'Dinner Plate' (bottom)
This year I decided I need to cut any peonies that start to fall over (instead of staking them up). Wow, was that a great idea!! I have had bouquets for weeks in my office now, and the scent is just heavenly. The peonies perfume the whole room! Whenever I leave the room and come back to it, I can smell their sweet scent that just makes me want to float!


Southern Peony Mother's Day Bouquet
So of course today I had to surprise my Mom with a bouquet of beautiful peony posies, filled with love, grown by the person she grew. First I want to wish all of the Mothers out there a VERY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! (as I know first hand how much work goes into being a Mom). I also hope that each of you takes time to remember your own Mom and give thanks for the magic and beauty of life on this very special day!


Happy Mother's Day! 💗

Southern Peony Mother's Day Bouquet & Card

2022 Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'

From my order of 2022 Spring Hill Nursery Sells 2 New Intersectionals - Peony 'Belle Toulousaine' & Peony 'Symphone Pourpre', one of the peonies arrived a couple of weeks ago, Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'. The other one did not come, as I got an out of stock notice for it, which was a bit disappointing, but I am grateful that one of them arrived at least (and from the photos, it looks like it might be the prettier one!)


Box from Spring Hill Nursery
with Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'

Bagged Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'
The plant was nicely boxed with breathing holes to prevent it from overheating. Inside the box, the plant was bagged, which surprised me, as the intersectional peonies that I've ordered from Spring Hill Nursery have usually been potted in previous years, 2019 Spring Hill Nursery Peony Order Arrives and 2020 Intersectional Peony 'Duchesse de Lorraine' Arrives from Spring Hill Nursery. However upon opening the bag, I could tell that this plant had recently been potted.


Unbagged Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'

Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine' Roots and Stems
The roots were still in the shape of the pot it had been in. It looked as if this plant had been growing in a pot for quite some time, and it was removed from its pot and sealed in this bag just before shipping. I guess it saves them money on pots. Perhaps they will reuse them, which is fine with me, as I will just recycle the pot anyway. As long as the plant grows just as well, I suppose it doesn't matter. The bag also had some information about the peony printed on it:

BELLE TOULOUSAINE ITOH PEONY PP26908
Paeonia itoh 'rtpiv789-06

Light: Full sun to partial shade      Height: 36-40"
Depth: Crown 1-2" below soil line      Spacing: 4'

Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine' Bag Info

Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'
After I got it unbagged, I planted it right away. I dug a nice hole, added some organic flower fertilizer to the hole, and mixed it in. After I got the peony into the hole, I added part of the dirt around it. Then I added water to the planting hole. Adding water to the bottom of the hole will help the plant and roots retain some moisture deeper into the ground, which will help your new plant get a good start! Always remember to put water into the hole before you put all of the soil back!

Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'

Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'
Add Water to the Planting Hole
After the roots and surrounding dirt were thouroughly soaked, I added more dirt to the hole, then I added more water. Making sure to give your plant a good drink when it is first introduced to its new home is essential. As you can see on the first watering, the roots were still exposed, and on the second watering only the foliage was exposed. Then when I added the final layer of dirt, all of the peony was covered except the tip of one of the tiny foliage shoots (the other shoot was just barely under the dirt).


Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'
Add More Dirt to the Planting Hole

Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'
Add Even More Water to the Planting Hole

Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'
Add Even More Dirt to the Planting Hole
Now that my Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine' is fully planted, I can't wait to see how it grows (and blooms)!! It might still be a couple of years before I get a bloom on this one. It definitely won't bloom this year, and the plant may still be too small next year as well. The peony needs to reach a critical mass size to bloom. This can really depend on the peony variety (and it's growing conditions of course), but I'm sure it will be worth the wait! Come on, grow, grow! :-)


Planting Intersectional Peony 'Belle Toulousaine'